Muslim woman sues after patient attacks her in Dearborn hospital

This screen grab from surveillance video, provided by attorney Majed Moughni, shows a man attacking a 19-year-old woman in lobby of the emergency room at Beaumont Hospital in Dearborn.(Photo: Majed Moughni)

Beaumont Hospital in Dearborn is facing a lawsuit after a 19-year-old Muslim woman was clobbered from behind by a male patient within 5 seconds of walking up to the emergency room desk.

The Feb. 10 incident was caught on surveillance video and led to the arrest of John Deliz, 57, for assault and battery. Deliz, who is being held at the Wayne County Jail, is being sued by the woman for ethnic intimidation.

The woman, who was wearing a hijab, went to the hospital to get her jaw checked following a fall earlier that day, said her attorney, Majed Moughni.

The video shows a man running up behind the woman and striking her in the head with his fist several times, knocking her to the ground. A security officer and a paramedic pulled Deliz off the woman, according to a Dearborn Police report on the incident.

The lawsuit, filed in Wayne County Circuit Court against Oakwood Healthcare Inc., alleges the hospital was negligent because the newly discharged patient was roaming the hospital and should have been detained by security until police arrived.

In a statement released to the Free Press, the hospital acknowledged a patient "became physically aggressive with another patient in the waiting room.

"Beaumont security personnel responded immediately and took action to protect the patient and others in the emergency room," the statement said. "Dearborn Police were contacted and Beaumont staff cooperated fully in the investigation. We take pride in our service to this diverse community and want all patients to feel welcome and safe at Beaumont."

According to Moughni, Deliz had escaped from a group home showing signs of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and was admitted into the hospital for not taking his medication. It is unclear who admitted him into the hospital. Deliz was then discharged — which Moughni said was premature — and was roaming the hospital, asking people for cigarettes and change.

Police were already on their way to the hospital "on report of a disorderly subject who was causing problems after being discharged," the report states.

Moughni said Beaumont security personnel should have detained Deliz until police arrived.

"(Beaumont) took a gamble by not holding him and lost," Moughni said. "You don't release a dangerous man into a population of people who are sick and weak. This incident could have been prevented."

The ethnic intimidation suit against Deliz was filed, Moughni said, because the victim, who wears hijab, was targeted "solely because she was Muslim."

"This is a classic case of Islamophobia," he said.

Moughni said his client suffered bruises to the face and symptoms of anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder,

"She is terrified to leave her home," the Dearborn-based lawyer said. "She will never see the world the way she did before this incident."